2024-07-09: Hamster & Memories Back in the Box
- Cast: Sousuke Sagara, Leina Ashta
- Where: Huffman Island Freedom City Arena
- Date: U.C. 0099 07 09
- Summary: Leina comes down to Huffman to blow off some steam by putting some Arena bozos in their place.
One of them isn't a bozo.
One of them is a specialist.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
At Asticassia it's a well known fact that the Dominicus Corps 'Black Lioness' is a coward. Her mission record? Definitely inflated, because the young woman hasn't accepted a single duel yet, despite dozens of challenges. Even those that know her reasons often imply the same, because she's simply not well liked there.
Ask the actual Dominicus Corps though, and you'll get a different story, that Leina Ashta is a training fiend who takes every opportunity to spar against her fellow squadmates.
The thing is, she really doesn't care about how she's regarded on a university campus? This isn't high school anymore, get a life everyone. And indeed, as if to thumb her nose at the idea that she's just a coward...
... she's here today, in the Huffman Island Arena, not in her Beguir, instead using a MD-0031 Dilanza Trainer-type MS. The goal is to keep her sharp, and not so reliant on Newtype Tech, but also to get her used to piloting something 'heavier' than her usual.
But so far, the competition isn't really anything to write home about. Mostly OCU and BU Mercenaries who have more passion than battle sense. The Dilanza Sol she's piloting charges in to shoulder check a Heindree Sturm firing at her, before slicing it's beam torch down on the fallen MS to sever it's head.
"Oooo! This kitten keeps proving she's got claws! Cathedra's Black Lioness conquers Vanilli from Philly! It's okay, mommy called, and she's paying for your one way ticket home."
A young announcer wearing a cocktail dress, with a 'femme fatale' persona in how she does things. Leina however frowns at her performance, "Still moves like a novelty blimp." She knows at least, she'd never commit to that kind of charge in her Beguir. Then again, she also knows any MS is gonna feel like that to her without any kind of Psycommu or Psychoframe setup.
As she moves it back to the hangar, a few Cathedra mechanics give it a onceover. "<Don't think you even scratched the paint that round.>" As Leina grumbles back, "<Not sure how? Look at this thing! How could anyone miss it?>"
"Hey folks, we'll be taking a teensy-weensy little intermission here because unfortunately-! There are no takers out there with an appetite for destruction! Where have all the real men gone? Guess we'll see if any show up!"
Leina groans at that one, "<With an announcer like that I'm definitely gonna get some shameless Britannian asshole next.>" "<I'm not sure I heard you there Ashta, because if you haven't forgotten, I'm from Boise.>" "<Well... nobody's perfect.>" "<Har Har.>"
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
The Arena's legality is less of an open question so much as it's a really funny joke the police and bookies tell each other over bribes, but even they have SOME rules. A squash match between a 90-meter-class anti-kaiju weapon and One Knightmare Frame is nobody's good time, so strength categories, weapon categories, and size categories are the order of the day. Which is to say, typically, you wouldn't see an AS step up to bat against something like a Dilanza Sol - or at least, nothing mercs in the arena circuits are fielding. But there is one name that's been making a name for itself...
*
The redhead Nami purses her lips, looking over the data on her console. She's sitting on the back of her team's AS, tapping away rapidly at the keys. "Are you sure, Sousuke? That's a top of the line MS out there..."
"At this point, it's defeated more than 5 opponents. The odds have reached a tipping point. If I can win, we'll have enough to our names to go up an entire rank," Sousuke Sagara says, clambering up beside her. It's a familiar motion, slipping right past her legs and into the ancient Savage's seat. "That's the goal, is it not?"
"I guess..." she says back, reluctantly. She taps a few final keys, then slaps the enter button and retracts her cables. "Alright. I'm done. If you're gonna do it, kick that thing's butt!"
"Not a problem," he says, and the machine in white and navy levers itself upright. His eyes flick across the monitors. Riley and Ashe had fitted the full battle loadout...no holds barred rules, today, then. He might need it. "Let's go, Al II," he says, a name nobody but him uses.
*
"Well well!!" the announcer laughs. "Looks like our resident 'specialist' is finally awake! A hard-hitter who ends his fights in a flash! The rookie who's been tearing his way through the middle divisions, it's CCUUUHHHROOOOOOOOOSSBOOOOOOOOOOOOOW piloted by Callsign SEAAAAAAAAAAAGULLLLLL!"
The surprisingly expensive main display board flashes a flashy graphic up of dancing flames, cut through by an image of the approaching machine: An RK-91 Savage.
AN RK-91 SAVAGE. A machine that's old enough to vote and drink. Its diesel piston engine is relatively quiet if you compare it to the gas turbines they used on its successor, but it's still louder than the operating quiet of most modern engines, and it grunts as the white machine, trimmed in navy, thumps into the arena. It's armed to the teeth - a pile bunker repurposed from a Wanzer in one arm, a Boxer shotcannon on its back. It has two massive hammers strapped across its back, too...HEAT hammers. The kind that explode.
Of course, it's not even half as big as a Dilanza Sol, so small wonder it's armed to the teeth.
Of course...someone who remembers the Arbalest might just remember the color scheme. Though, it is now a bit broken up by a sponsor label from Good Smile company. Must be doing well for themselves.
KTS: Sousuke Sagara has deployed in RK-91 Crossbow.
FPT: Lightly Loaded Bonus=66 []
KTS: Prevent: 0 Ranged,Special,Debuff KTS: Leina Ashta has deployed in MD-0031UL Dilanza Sol.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
The Dilanza Sol makes its way back out, as Leina's tipped off that there's another challenge, "Oooo the 'Specialist'-" A mechanic nudges a buddy, "-someone idiot playing out some 'spy' thriller fantasy."
Leina wears a thin smile, sighing, because the moniker, 'Specialist' reminds her of old times, her comm isn't on. "Heh, wonder what he'd think if he could see me now?"
There's this moment's ruefulness over the idea of Sousuke Sagara's thoughts over the matter, but then...
There's a blinking Ikuhara hand in Leina's mind at the RK-91 SAVAGE on the field, "You're kidding me."
A lightbulb goes on.
"Sea... gull?"
A second lightbulb goes on.
"Specialist."
All three light bulbs flare so brightly at once, before blowing out.
The Dilanza Sol takes up it's Beam Torch, as it flares up, and suddenly there's an expletive.
"SON OF A-"
~*CENSORED*~
"-IF THAT'S REALLY YOU IN THERE SOUSUKE I'M GONNA-"
~*DOUBLE CENSORED*~
"-OUT YOUR-!"
~*YEAH THAT TOO*~
The Dilanza Sol rolls in, sweeping it's beam torch in an arcing strike out the SAVAGE's legs, using the arc in momentum to raise it's rifle and fire a low shot to try and take out some of it's armaments.
"WAIT UNTIL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU!"
-=-=-
Back at the Cathedra hangar. "Never seen her this aggressive before? The shit?" "Got me? Think it's someone she knows? Maybe like an Ex-boyfriend?" "Bullshit. In that antique? There's no way, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Sousuke, meanwhile, steps forward, waiting for the tension to break. He's read up on the Dilanza Sol. Its schematics are impressive, but...
Not insurmountable.
"Aggressive," Sousuke murmurs as the Dilanza Sol breaks into a dead sprint, beam torch - a wide saber of a thing - sweeping wide. That forces him up. Arm Slaves are known for their vertical mobility, but the RK-91 can't jump nearly the dozens of meters of an M9 or the Arbalest. Still, he's able to clear the height of the blade, and get up high *enough* that he can rear back and --
Get caught dead on by a beam rifle shot!! It washes forward, completely consuming the Crossbow!! There's a HUGE explosion!
....of one of the HEAT hammers going off, as Sousuke whips it free and thrusts it into the blast, the warhead explosion creating a concussion strong enough to KNOCK him end over end, higher and higher, until he can reach up for the THIRD melee weapon in his arsenal--!
A sledgehammer. It's not superheated or anything it just weighs a bunch. He swings it down like an ICE PICK mid-flight to wedge into the Dilanza's shoulder and keep himself affixed.
At the VIP operator seats where Crossbow's mechanic team spends the match, Team Sponsor Michel Lemon stands with his jaw dropped. "It can do that!?" he squawks in Nami's direction.
Riley, the heavy-set bald man of the team, rubs his hand over his bright red bandana. "Uhh, I'd say it more like 'it doesn't immediately explode when you do that', but, yeah, I guess."
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
There's some satisfaction at seeing the Heat Hammer explode, but then Sousuke pulls out the Sledgehammer, and moves flying, Leina slaps up the shield, narrowly missing the block, while calling out, "TEXT TO VOICE FUNCTION! Load it up for touch comm!"
The onboard AI picked up the command, as Leina began to suddenly work the keys with the expert abandon of a young woman who spends far too much time on her cell-
The Slegehammer gets it's good strike in, doing more than just denting the armor as it wedges in like a spike, and for a moment, it's like the Dilanza Sol doesn't take the opportunity to counterattack.
And then abruptly one of the rear mounted missile launchers fires straight up, which looks entirely ineffective, until they break apart into cluster missiles.
Which come back down.
Homing cluster missiles. Such a move is a little unhinged when they're wedged in this close, but perhaps they're relying on the lower yield to force Sousuke to leap back.
Which is when the Dilanza Sol reaches out, and-
-it's hand doesn't catch hold of the Savage, but there's a graze in mid-air.
And the Crossbow's comms suddenly light up.
INCOMING TOUCH COMMUNICATION! DEFAULT SET TO TEXT TO VOICE
AMPERSAND DOLLAR SIGN PERCENTAGE ASTERISK EXCLAMATION POINT EXCLAMATION POINT EXCLAMATION POINT EXCLAMATION POINT SOUSUKE EXCLAMATION POINT SAGARA EXCLAMATION POINT I WAS TOLD YOU WERE DEAD YOU JACKASS IF THAT IS YOU IN THERE THEN YOU WON'T ESCAPE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT FIRST I'M GOING TO
Oh God it's still going, the on board text to voice is just making this sound the most threatening flat monotone ever.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
With positioning like this, he could end the fight in the next blow - and indeed, he's rearing back to smash the Dilanza's head to pieces with the pile bunker. It might not end the fight, especially not for someone with Leina's awareness, but it'd be a decisive hit.
The rockets force a change in approach. He can't even pull the sledge free before he has to go!
The contact tap is a whisper, but the sound of it rattles Sousuke in the soul. A hit like that could kill a man.
Then the comms light up. The onboard system isn't even automated enough to qualify as an AI, which is why Sousuke finds himself grunting as it automatically parses out the communication without input. Crossbow skips back to avoid the rain of missiles, its forehead chainguns firing into the swarm to try and crack off most of them, then using the heavy base of its pile bunker to ward off the rest.
If AL were here, perhaps he would say something funny. 'Oh, I'd know that Sweetwater mouth,' he's say, and Sousuke would have to tell him not to call people that.
The cockpit's silence is, for a moment, stifling. Leina gets a few moments to maneuver before he gathers himself enough to reach back for his shotcannon, whipping it forward one-handed and firing twice just to ward off approach.
...it's still going.
"How long was that packet," he mutters. He's going to have to talk to Nami about limiting the input buffers.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
The Dilanza Sol swings around one of the arena landscape obstacles as the shotcannon fires off, the first salvo taking out some of the armoring in the rear, and the second eating pillar.
Apparently she's tamped down on the aggression now that she's gotten her message across-
AND KANAME BETTER DUCKING BE WITH YOU I SWEAR TO GOD NUMERAL MARK CIRCUMFLEX AT SIGN EXCLAMATION POINT EXCLAMATION POINT EXCLAMATION POINT IF THE TWO OF YOU GOT MARRIED IN SOME STUPID BRITANNIAN VEGAS CHAPEL AND DIDN'T INVITE ME AND MOM
Apparently Auto-correct, is very much on, with parental settings???
The Dilanza Sol just leapt over the barrier and that sure is the highest beam saber output the market can buy trying to avenge this by a heavy crash that's trying to dismember at least one of Savage's arms.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
He still doesn't reply, even as Leina's badgering tirade grinds at both his nerves and his memories.
Marriage? As if they could put their heads up that far. He thinks of Kyouko, wounded, and Onodera, snarling. For a moment he loses his sense of the danger of the blade, throwing the shotcannon aside and priming the pile bunker as he charges forward. He has to set his stance - unlike a wanzer, there's no movement gear to let him slide and brace at the same time. It costs him an arm, alright, and it's a bad, bad trade - but it does force Leina into a position where he can drive the pile bunker straight into the Dilanza's wrist and blow the hand completely off, hopefully taking the eam torch with it.
There's no Al to sooth or stoke him. He can only grimace and feel his gut and throat burn. So he sends something back, typed out rapidly with fingers skilled with an Arm Slave's keys, through the connection point of his spike to the Dilanza.
Unfortunately, he forgot he was testing some stuff with the communications earlier.
>Fumo?
>FUMOFFU?
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
It's fine. This is fine.
The thing is, Leina hates the Dilanza Sol. Sure she's piloting it to work on her skills when she's not in something Newtype specialized, but-
The pile bunker drives in, and circuits shredded, the joint half ripped off. What two fingers are left are totally limp.
Which is when the opposite arm, holding the rifle, suddenly ignites it's Beam Bayonet, stabbing in the air-
>Fumo?
>FUMOFFU?
"What!?"
Leina jolts in surprise as the communication comes over and- "Is that some kind of code!? Auto-correct? Wait-!"
-=-=-
Once upon a time, when a fifteen year old boy in Japan wanted to ask out a fourteen year old girl.
"Hey so I have two all day passes to this theme park, FumoFumo land?"
"'FluffyFluffy' land?"
"Yeah! You'll go with me, right?"
-=-=-
"Maybe he's trying to set a rendezvous point..."
The bayonet aim spoiled, she taps back a message, this time just over one of the comm bands.
>acknowledged
>fumo
Rather than press the point of a failed strategem, the Dilanza suddenly backs up in rapid gear and- decides to see how well attached that Crossbow actually is.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
And there's number two. However he's feeling, Sousuke never loses sight of the battlefield that much. With an arm down a piece, Crossbow surges away from a beam bayonet that doesn't even actually go where he thought it would. More text over the comms. ...what the heck?
Up in the stands:
"Oh don't tell me he's trying to use the communicator...since when does he give a shit! Other than when he met that one chick I guess!" Nami moans.
"Why not?" Lemon asks, blankly.
"He put this weird...thing, on it? Some kinda separate project he's working on with Chidori. But the settings are all wrong so it one-way encodes everything you say or send."
Lemon thinks about that for a second. "So it doesn't w-"
"SO IT DOESN'T WORK!" Nami yells at full volume at the stadium.
Leina receives, >Fufu. Fumomo.
A few moments later she also receives BULLET FROM A GUN as the Crossbow's remaining arm fires its shotcannon one handed as it charges after the Dilanza to recover distance!
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
A message! And a bullet! From a gun!
However, now Leina doubts her perceptions some. Does he really want to meet up or... the bullet shreds a knee joint, taking out some of her mobility.
Suddenly she switches the band to the arena staff channel and-
Abruptly... the Dilanza takes a knee, holding up a hand.
"<Hold on folks! I know you're all on the edge of your seats, but our little kitten has decided to forfeit! Now wait - wait, I know all you maniacs are craving blood right about now but...!>"
The cockpit of the Dilanza Sol opens, and the Cathedra pilot suited woman steps out, taking off her helmet.
"<... it's because she acknowledges the other pilot's strength! Taking her on in that customized Savage like that, this Seagull is a man who knows his stuff! Has love bloomed on the battlefield?"
"No." Leina mutters, flatly, with her helmet off, but that's not on the radios! "Absolutely not."
"<PROBABLY! But will our Seagull return her feelings? But if he's feeling a little bashful then our little kitty has passed on that he's welcome to meet her in the hangars for a private rendezvous me~ow!>"
"Oh God." Leina mutters, "Thanks I hate it."
Regretting everything, she awaits his response.
[OOC] Leina Ashta says, "*blu-ray out the " and extra lines."
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
Huh. What's she doing--
Crossbow slows to a walk as the Dilanza Sol yields. Surrender...yes, perhaps she would. This isn't life or death as it is for him and his team. He's not sure what the payouts will be now. Suppose it counts as a win? That'll be a nice payday. But.
...not here. With so many people in the crowds...with Leonard's dogs snooping, and what he knows waits in the wings...he can't emerge unprotected onto such a stage. Fortunately, he has prepared a countermeasure.
*
Meanwhile Nami is up in the stands huffing. "He better not!" she yells at the announcer. "I've got enough crap to deal with!"
Riley snickers. "Is the young lady jealous?" the big man laughs.
"HE LITERALLY CAME HERE WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND" Nami shrills back, blushing.
*
The Crossbow drops to a knee; for an Arm Slave, it is a part of the docking posture, allowing the head to dislocate forward and opening access to the cockpit in the torso. Slowly, a figure emerges. A black pilot suit - Leina will know it in an instant as one of Mithril's design. Red wedges on the shoulders, just like Sousuke always wore.
....a bright yellow hamster head with a little top hat.
"Fumoffu," it says, shrill. "Fumo fumo! Fumo ffu!"
*
"WHY DOES HE HAVE THAT" Nami shrieks.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
The crowd for a time, is jeering. The Cathedra team suddenly has popcorn - and is eating it. Everyone is watching because... the drama.
And then everything falls to a hush as the Crossbow drops to a knee. Leina for her part, comes out of the cockpit, putting a foot on the leg of it...
... as the Crossbow cockpit opens.
As he does, she starts taking the MS's own lift on down, given the relative height. As she hits the ground, she looks up and-
'Fumoffu'
'Fumo fumo! Fumo ffu!'
Leina Ashta's eyes become pinpricks for a moment, because 'what' then they dilate as she sees the wider view of Mithril's design.
Now... consider for a moment Sousuke's intentions of keeping Opsec, running in stark contrast to Sousuke outright wearing a Mithril pilot suit.
The 'what' expression becomes the twitch of an eyebrow, before, she pivots suddenly, slinging her own Cathedra helmet FULL FORCE into Bonta-kun's head.
"YOU! IDIOT!"
And then in the moment of total ambush, she runs right up to the Arm Slave and-
-=-=-
"Oh hey is she pulling out the new model stun baton?"
"Oooo... okay yeah, ex-boyfriend it is."
"What's with the whole... thing he's wearing..."
"I hear that fetish is big in the AEU."
-=-=-
-perhaps fortunately for Sousuke, she doesn't in fact, show him her stun baton, because as soon as she leaps up into the Crossbow cockpit, she hits the hatch, forcing it to slide down.
"So. I uh- think our little kitten is showing a rodent some 'police brutality'." She whispers off to the side, "Do you have any idea what just happened?"
"Idiot. ... Moron."
And instead in the cramped Arm Slave cockpit that is really barely meant for one person, much less two, puts her arms around him in a firm hug.
"I knew you... weren't dead. I knew it." There's this... soft, sob in this moment, "God. Even just one coded message damnit - something."
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
The advanced battlefield tracking system in Bonta-kun's head allows him to spot the baton on her hip. But, he's fine. Everything's fine. "Fumoffu," he affirms, nodding firmly after they meet eyes.
Then she NAILS him in the face and he's sent flailing back, squawking a startled "FUMO!?" which means 'unemphatic ow' in the language of hamsters.
This buys her enough time to leap up close. No! Peril! But, instead, she pulls them both down into the Crossbow's cockpit.
....it's a tight fit. An Arm Slave's cockpit is meant for little more than the Master Suit and a few emergency compartments. Still, it works, the Bonta-kun head discarded, grey eyes indisputable, that scar on his cheek the same as ever. But...there's something inscrutable in his eyes even as she sobs against him.
"...most of the caches were looted or destroyed," he says, a little dull. "Everything was gone. And Amalgam's been hounding our every step. We couldn't." And...
...how sure can he be that she isn't with them herself?
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
She knew it'd be a tight fit right away, but the implications - whether violent or sexual to the crowd would be needed perhaps to cover for a short time talking, when even her own security team can't overhear it.
There, snugly up against the smallest gap in the harness and the instruments, she speaks to him, listens to him, then looks into his grey eyes for a long moment with her own seagreen.
"You are so frustrating, Sousuke. You think we wouldn't have tried to lend you some aid, even if we had to be careful about it?" She thumbs one of his little red wedges, "You're not even being that careful, right now."
There's this glimmer of annoyance, and perhaps he understands that's exactly why she rushed towards him - not JUST because of the ridiculous Bonta-kun Hamster head.
But after a moment, she relaxes, and sighs, "Goddamnit... Syam, does any part of your legacy not cause trouble for the people I know? It's not just Amalgam though right, it's Leonard? Tessa's brother. She's gotta be alive too? That leak online - she was always upset about the secret keeping."
She was... mostly certain of that already, just because even if she can hardly sense Sousuke, she's rather certain she'd feel if Tessa... or even Kaname died.
But that thought that perhaps she was wrong - perhaps... they just were.
"I've been rather careful making certain inquiries of 'Shuffle Business' in Cathedra. Given the Corporate hierarchy, I'm not always certain whose hands they're passing through."
Undoing a velcro pouch, she takes out a pen, and- lacking paper.
"Here, hold still. We don't have much time before my security team will look into this." And assuming he lets her, she writes a phone number on his forehead. "This is for my second phone, the one I'm sure noone's monitoring."
She chuckles, "Damnit, wish we had... a few hours to just catch up, but..." A momentary pause and...
"...okay, here's how we're gonna play this. You put that stupid head back on. Then open the cockpit up and throw me out, and shut the hatch after. Whole crowd believes what they wanna believe. If anyone asks questions I'll just say you're an old classmate from school... that I dunno, once hurt a friend of mine in a breakup - I'll ad lib it, it'll be fine."
The stun baton she's tightly gripping is definitely part of the ad lib.
<Pose Tracker> Sousuke Sagara has posed.
In the end...he trusts her enough to say it. "Leina," he says, eyes hardening to look past her to the pain of the past. "We were ambushed by people who managed to time a massive operation with a woman going insane, people with the access to get a small army into Nagoya in the middle of a massive event. We emerged barely escaping a trap, with Mithril gone, the Shuffle Alliance disbanded, and your mother's name on the order. No. We could not be sure be sure of anyone but ourselves."
He hangs his head a little, predicting that will make her upset. Still, he continues forward: "But you're right. This is a plan." His head shifts. Through the instruments, he can hear the crowd reaction shifting a little. He doesn't elaborate further; he imagines they'll speak again soon, now.
But he does add: "Kaname's safe. Tessa..." His eyes avert. "We assumed she was lost with the rest of Mithril. But that leak does seem like it could've come from her."
....then she writes on his forehead. That's a new one. Still... "Understood," he says. How is he even gonna call that safely...maybe he'll use Lemon's phone?
He hesitates a moment longer, those storm grey eyes as focused as ever. He's back in the warzone he wanted to escape. But, that's the fate of men like him. What else, what else....
He grabs the Bonta-kun head, raises it, and then, something occurs to him.
"Oh," he says. "...Al didn't make it."
Then he thumps the helmet down, because that's all the death of a comrade is worth in their line of work, and while the news is still ringing in the dead of the cockpit, hits the hatch.
<Pose Tracker> Leina Ashta has posed.
<poem> "I have my own theories on that." Leina murmurs, quietly, on the 'woman going insane' part, but afterwards settles in to listen. She went her own way that day, and Sousuke went his - and how much their lives diverged as a fact of the matter, after taking a breath. Obviously she's upset, exasperated, but she seems to at least accept that he's not just being paranoid - not when people really are out to get them, "I can tell you Mom isn't involved, but that's not good enough for you. They'll be watching her too, that's what you're saying, isn't it?"
But a plan? The fact that Sousuke isn't immediately following up with details is enough for her not to ask on it. It means 'not now'. It means 'we don't have enough time.' It means 'we can't be sure even now'. Part of her wants to still smack him for being so careful about Opsec then wearing his damn Mithril uniform... but...
"Oh thank God." She whispers when he mentions Kaname, "Yeah, Cathedra's still assessing their response - I promise, they didn't find out about Whispered from me, not prior to the leak." Her eyes float lower, "I owed all of you that much and more. But other than that, haven't heard a word about where she is, or what she's up to." And that much at least, is true.
Thankfully he accepts the phone number, whether he'll think it's safe to call is another matter but, worry about that another day.
"Alright." She steels herself for what's to come, gotta sell it. It's just like stage acting. Then...
'... Al didn't make it.'
... ... ...
It's only a split second but it feels like an interminably long time for the hatch to open, and when it does. She's definitely selling it, because.. that stun baton is coming down repeatedly on the oversized Hamster head, thankfully it's enough to cushion the blows. "You! STUPID! HOW IS THAT ANY WAY TO TELL SOMEONE!" And if her voice cracks, it's because...
... she's not just acting. It's anger in grief. Maybe she didn't know Al that long, and maybe they didn't always get along, but they were at least united - friendly in one thing.
Helping someone find happiness.
As 'Bonta-kun' helps her find her way out of the Crossbow, aka, through tossing her out, and she hits the ground heavily enough to sell it, long enough for the Crossbow to get off the field, as her security rushes up, they're now no longer in stance of thinking it was mere drama but Leina holds up a hand.
"Stop, call off any MS on standby." She gets up, slowly, as one of them offers her a hand and she notes to them. "Just... some idiot I knew back in school." It's mostly correct, save the 'some' idiot. Sousuke more deserves 'the' idiot.
But despite the droplets of water welling in her eyes that she's holding back, she knows, this isn't over. It can't be.